CFP for edited book collection: Terror in Global Narrative: The Aesthetics and Representation of 9/11 in the Age of Late-Late Ca

Erected amid criticism in a mid-century modernist style and once the tallest buildings on the globe, New York's Twin Towers emerged as haughty symbols of American capitalism in what Henry Luce deemed the American Century. As an event that ushered in the 21st century, the destruction of the Towers marked a profound moment in American and global history. Moreover, the ubiquitous visibility and non-stop replaying of the attack itself brought to light a number of interesting and provocative questions in regards to the moment's "aesthetic dimensions." It did not take long, to give but one example, for many to notice the uncanny parallels between the events on 9/11 and those of Hollywood disaster movies. "Visually devised," according to artist Damien Hirst, the attacks challenged notions of what counts as aesthetic representation, as the attacks themselves appeared as a "work of art," to use Karlheinz Stockhausen's controversial phrasing. A number of aesthetic responses attending to the events of that day were soon to follow. As works such as Bruce Springsteen's The Rising, Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and the international film collaboration 11'09"01 – September 11 illustrate, the attacks solicited responses across modes, media, generations, and nations. Using notably aesthetic terms, Don DeLillo posits that terror like 9/11's changed "the world narrative," but what characterizes this new narrative in the face of the atrocity's dramatic character? How might the burning towers influence questions of representation? What happens-if anything-to postmodernism in the aftermath of 9/11? How do representations of the West change after 9/11, and, in turn, what characterizes emerging representations of the terrorist as what Kristiaan Versluys terms the "ultimate Other"? What distinguishes the dynamic interplay between terrorism and capitalism in fictional and non-fictional literature, film, and forms beyond and between? And are there certain events that can never truly be "represented," despite their intense visual realities?

We seek 500-750 word abstracts for essays to appear in an anthology tentatively titled Terror in Global Narrative: The Aesthetics and Representation of 9/11 in the Age of Late-Late Capitalism. Proposals should attend to the broader question of aesthetics and representations of 9/11, whatever forms those may take. Proposals that address 9/11 in a tangential but relevant manner are welcome as well, as are non-traditional approaches to the topic. Abstracts are due by June 1, 2014, and, for those with accepted abstracts, finalized 5000-8000-word essays will be due by the end of October 2014. Abstract and any questions should be addressed to lnaydan@gmail.com and George.Fragopoulos@gmail.com